Letter: Free Staters aren’t terrorists

Concord’s grant application for yet another BearCat tank to be based here in New Hampshire reveals the depth of delusion on the part of some government officials.

The application, signed by City Manager Thomas Aspell contains the following quote: “The State of New Hampshire’s experience with terrorism slants primarily towards the domestic type. . . . the threat is real and here. Groups such as the . . . Free Staters . . . are active and present daily challenges.”

The goal of the Free State Project is “the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals rights to life, liberty, and property.” What part of that mission is so threatening that it requires the response of a tank? The Free State Project detests violence and has a long-standing policy of disassociating with people who advocate violence, racial hatred or bigotry. The only threat Free Staters could pose in their advocacy of freedom is one of non-violence. Meeting that so-called threat with a tank is terrifying.

Mr. Aspell, I respect your opinion if you think government should do much more than protect our freedom. I respectfully disagree and am happy to use non-violent means to advance my position. You appear happy to collect arms to enforce your position. Calling me a terrorist and threatening me with a tank does little to support your position that I am a terrorist and you are not. In fact, the opposite is clearly true.

Mr. Swearingen carefully sidesteps the fact that members of the Free State Project worship their guns, and have been directly responsible for firing up gun lovers in NH over the past several years. The recent display of gun rights activists bullying anti-gun activists at the State House shows where all of this has been heading. I was confronted by a gun activist in the parking lot of my local supermarket recently, something that would have been very unlikely 10 years ago.
The Free State Project has a stated goal (despite President Carla Gericke's continual denial of this) to infiltrate State government and essentially dissolve its power over time. They plan to have a profound affect on New Hampshire, with or without their guns; let there be no doubt about this.
There are also many Free Staters who have come to the state as anarchists, and are not interested in working within the system. They see the country heading for a major breakdown, and are heading to NH, with their guns and their copies of the US Constitution, to take their last stand. I think it's a giant question mark what some of the 20,000 of them planning to come here are prepared to do in order to defend their "freedom".